The Way That You Do It
by Funky In Fishnet
Summary: The Dino Charge Power Rangers have scars from lots of different experiences, and they also have each other.


_**Disclaimer:** I own nothing._

 _ **Author Note:** Title is a lyric from the song 'It Ain't What You Do...' by the Fun Boy Three & Bananarama._

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 **THE WAY THAT YOU DO IT**

Ranger healing could produce miracles, though Miss Morgan objected to the term. The Dino Charge Rangers could run and jump higher than they'd ever been able to before; they were stronger and faster with the sharp reflexes needed for facing monsters. They still all frequently suffered aches and pains though, how could they not with the amount of punishment that their bodies now regularly endured? And when one of them was really hurt in battle, there was only so much the Energems could do.

"You can't take too many unnecessary risks," Miss Morgan warned them. "Your Ranger healing abilities won't always automatically save you."

It was a sobering thought. The Rangers still pushed themselves though, because some risks had to be taken in order to keep the city and the world safe. And, the Rangers found, Ranger healing didn't smooth away old scars either. Some things were meant to remain, to be remembered.

Chase had gotten dinged up a lot when he'd first started learning how to skateboard. There was still a mark on his right elbow from where he'd scraped his arm pretty badly. He had a scar at his waist too, from the stitches he'd needed after spilling over a nasty rusty rail a few years back. The warmth of Riley's fingers always felt good against that particular scar, Chase wasn't above curling beseechingly close for that kind of contact. Riley usually shook his head in amusement but sunk his hand under Chase's shirt anyway. It was a really chaste kind of skin-on-skin action but it felt so good. Hence why Chase got so beseeching for it.

Tyler had always loved tumbling almost as much as he loved archeology. The tumbling hadn't been something he'd shared with his dad though. He had a faint scar on his shins from how many times he'd banged his legs against the outside of his childhood home, trying to get a headstand right.

Shelby had had her appendix out when she was little; she still had the scar and the memory of a thick-cotton sleepy-wakefulness, her mom reading to her from one of her favorite books. Shelby remembered feeling safe too.

Koda had faced many dangers in his previous life. There was a scar under his thick dark hair, carved into his skull by a stone axe that someone had swung badly. He'd recovered after many days drifting under the care of his tribe's healer. Koda still remembered the dreams he had dwelt in as he'd healed, they didn't appear in the paintings he created on the walls of his new home.

Riley had gotten kicked by horses a few times. His brother Matt had said that horses could sense nerves and that kicking was sometimes their default response. It'd been unbelievably painful, Riley felt like he still bore marks on his ribs, indentations from when he'd determinedly learned how to properly approach and ride a horse. And his shoulder still got sore, a souvenir from his first ever battle against Fury, it twinged when the weather was cold. It was a reminder that Riley really didn't need.

Some things weren't marked by scars though. Shelby wrapped Tyler's bracelet back around his wrist, their hands touching, both of them feeling tingly. They held hands a lot now, skin flushing, lips smiling. They shared so many stories – Tyler's dad, Shelby's mom, dinosaurs and archeology, childhood and Power Rangers.

Koda painted his world onto rocky walls - the brother that he missed, Fury who caused so much destruction, Koda's new friends. Shelby had told him how cave paintings had lasted before, how much they told people, each painter's life displayed and preserved. Koda wanted everyone to know about his team and all that he'd discovered in this world. Maybe his pictures could help someone, provide the aid that Koda himself had needed when he'd woken up. He still didn't paint his dreams.

Riley and Chase argued but they also often trained together at the track and frequently sat side by side on the couch, hands under each other's clothing, mouths pressed warmly together.

Whenever their shifts could be covered, all five Rangers ate lunch together. Koda insisted on super-rare meat and ate far too much of it, it was his metabolism according to Miss Morgan. Riley was a disciplined eater but had a not-so-secret love of chocolate milkshakes. Chase played footsie with him and ate noisily, enjoying the crinkle of Riley's brow. Shelby frequently and loudly complained about the drink sizes available in the cafe and Tyler wore his cafe badge even when he was out of uniform, he liked the way it looked and how it reminded him of family - the new one he'd unexpectedly become part of and the one he was still trying to find.

Miss Morgan never ate with them, she was far too busy. There was so much to learn, recalibrate and attempt, the Energems needed to be paired up with their Ranger and those Rangers and their corresponding Zords needed to be located too. Miss Morgan was lucky; she had an MIT friend in Blue Bay Harbor she could call on for help. And when Miss Morgan wasn't working, she enjoyed yoga and weapons training and called a Skype number so that she could talk to her girlfriend who was on sabbatical abroad, flourishing and missing Kendall.

The Keeper lived a more essentially solitary existence; he enjoyed conversing with the Rangers and watching their growth around and beyond all scar tissue but his needs were different to theirs and his world was so far away now. So he wore his hooded cloak and stepped beneath the Earth's trees, he sank his toes into mud and grass, thinking of those he still missed as he sang beautiful homeward songs into the strange alien nights.

 _-the end_


End file.
